by Vijaylakshmi
Although the pace of change is still slow and sporadic in nature, senior hotel housekeepers are quite upbeat about the way people from their fraternity are finally getting to positions where they can influence policies and decisions in a hotel. It was not the case a few years ago. Notwithstanding the contribution of the housekeeping department in keeping the house clean and spotless which is primary to the customer experience, their role never carried the respect that other departments enjoyed within a hotel ecosystem. Housekeepers of major hotel chains in the country met recently in Delhi under the banner of SOHO (Syndicate of Housekeeping Professionals), to share ideas about latest trends in design, safety and hygiene, and issues of sustainability without compromising on customer experience. The day-long conference with the theme ‘Shine & Glow’ deliberated on digital transformation in housekeeping, the need for design innovation, and also recognised excellence in housekeeping considering three important parameters of ‘planet, profit and people.’
Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Garima Nagpal, founder member of SOHO and a senior housekeeper, who served many brands before retiring as executive housekeeper of The Imperial New Delhi shared how things are finally changing for the good for housekeepers in the hotel industry. Housekeepers were never in line or in contention for a GMs post in a hotel earlier, because housekeeping is seen as a cost centre and not a revenue centre by hotels. But that mindset is slowly and gradually changing and a lot of housekeepers are now getting promoted to director of rooms and even general managers, she says.
“In Delhi itself we have a few cases of housekeepers being promoted as general managers,” she says.
Even in aspects like design of rooms, etc., there is a palpable change as far as involving and taking the inputs of housekeepers at the project stage at least big brands and chain hotels, says Nagpal. “We have reached a stage where we are able to influence hotel policies which are directly associated with guest experience. Earlier we never had a say in design aspects, even that is also changing,” she added.
Yes, it is still a lot of struggle for housekeepers as they have to do a lot of convincing work and work through different departments like engineering, general managers, and finally owners to implement important changes and get the adequate budgets for it, but many a times their proposals are accepted as “innovations to upgrade customer experience” and “controlling cost” are of primary importance for hotels today.
From day one, a housekeeper is taught about budgeting, cost control, sustainability, etc., says Meenu Tognatta, another founding member of SOHO who retired from ITC as corporate executive housekeeper recently. Yes, the housekeeping department has carried the impression of a back of house job which deals only with cleanliness and hygiene in hospitality for a long time. But that impression has changed over the last couple of decades, she says.
“Housekeeping department is driven by people with knowledge of varied subjects like economics, finance, science and above all the human interactions. The budget and the inventory that the housekeeping department holds in a hotel runs into crores,” she says.
She feels that cleanliness, hygiene and comfort comes first in a guest journey during his stay in a hotel and it is the knowledge and understanding of the housekeeping department about customer comfort and experience that make sure that these are delivered seamlessly to every guest who walks into the hotel. “Top management has to understand that no customer is going to come back if his overall experience is not good,” she says.
Although housekeepers are made room division managers and general managers at a few places, it is not very common, she informs. “Things will definitely change and morale of the housekeepers will definitely go up if the management of hotels reward and recognise housekeepers for their knowledge. Even though housekeeping is not a revenue generating department, their knowledge of finance as to what to purchase, at what cost and at what time, etc, can help management to control cost and save a lot of wasteful expenditure,” she said.
